Motor vehicle hood supports



Oct. 4, 1955 o. A. PENBERTHY MOTOR VEHICLE HOOD SUPPORTS Filed Aug. 15, 1952 Frill v IN VE N TOR OL/E A. PENBER THY A TTURNEYS.

United States Patent MOTOR VEHICLE HOOD SUPPORTS Olie A. Penberthy, St. Louis, Mo.

Application August 15, 1952, Serial No. 304,625

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-354) This invention relates to improvements in motor vehicle hood supports, and more particularly to a tool for use as a strut or prop for automobile hoods incident to shop work. The device, with or without minor modifications, is susceptible of usage in a variety of fields requiring an adjustable-length tool for use as a prop or strut, with quick operating provisions for length adjustment.

A majority of present day automobiles and trucks are provided with a rear-hinged hood, and in connection therewith, a toggle linkage, a pivoted prop or other provision for retaining the hood in a lifted position. However, all such lifting and retaining means furnished as equipment, do not provide a sufficient degree of lift and thus fail to support the hood at a proper height for ease of access to all mechanism under the hood. Such equipment devices are notoriouslyinadequate to. permit clear and safe working access to the rear portion of the motor, and to the accessoriesat the rear of the motor as well as those mounted on the fire wall. Accordingly, nearly all automotive mechanics. require, unless the hood be entirely removed, an auxiliary prop or strut used to dispose same at an adequate working. height. The present improvements are directed to this general purpose and objective. I

A further and highly important object of the present invention is found in a telescopic strut for the purpose noted, whichis rugged, safe against slippage, which may be adjusted infinitely between minimum and maximum lengths, and which lends itself to usage for a variety of purposes in automotive and other shops, as well as in other fields wherein a temporary adjustable-length brace or strut is needed.

A further important object and advantage of the present improvements is found in an improved spring-retained locking cam assembly for the retention of the telescopic sections of a variable length strut, in any preadjusted relation of the sections, and yet which is readily released by direct manual gripping movement.

A still further object of the present improvements is realized in a device for the general purposes noted, and which may be readily constructed at least for the most part, of easily obtainablestock materials, requiring but a minimum of machine and tool work incident to production, and hence such that it may be manufactured in quantity on an economical basis.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will more clearly appear from the following detailed description of a currently preferred embodiment, particularly when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the hood region of an automobile, with the hood lifted, and in which the extensible prop embodying present improvements is shown in full lines with the parts of the car in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the adjustable strut or prop embodying present improvements;

Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of same;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view, partly 2,719,693 Patented, Oct. 4, 1955 in elevation, showing details of the locking cam and actuating mechanism therefor;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view located 'by line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is 'a plan view of the clamping face of the looking cam utilized to maintain the telescopic elements of the assembly in adjusted relation. 1

Referring now by numerals of reference to the drawing, the two major telescopic sections or elements of the assembly may be designated as an outer, elongate, tubular member 10, smoothly slidable within the bore of which, with not much more than easy working clearance, is a rod element 11. If desired, this latter may. also, for lightness, be of'tubular construction, bothparts-preferably being'of metal. A

The lower end 12 of the member 10 is. preferably closed, and welded or otherwisefixedly attached to the portion 12 is a lower abutment member whicliumay be formed of a wire or rod stock and indicated at 13.. The upper part of member 13 consists of a transverse'bridge piece attached diametr'ally to the adjacent lowerendof the tube 10. The divergent sides of the abutment 13 enable this element readily to interfit the usual hood-latch socket or other convenient recess in the forepart of the hood region. i

At the opposite end of the tubular section .111 is an enlarged annular head 14, assembled, for example, as by fillet welds 15, best appearing in Fig. 4. This head or collar structure further includes apair of spaced ears or projections 16 apertured to receive a pivot pin 17 serving the locking cam 20 as will later appear. The cam'20 is arranged for a minor rocking movement aboutthe pin 17, and is actuated in a manner later tobedescribed. .To permit entrance of the frictional clamping portion v.of the cam 20 to a region immediately adjacent the innertelescopic element 11, the head portion 14 is;provided with a longitudinal slot 21, the length of this slot beingatleast somewhat greater than the length. of the frictional clamping surface of the cam. This latter will later be more particularly described.

Further with reference to the inner telescopic element such as rod 11, this latter may approximate the length of the cooperating member 10 by which the rod is telescopically received. The piece 11 is by preference of a uniform circular section,'or of other section complemental to that of the bore of member 10. As-shown, the outer or upper ,end of'the rod 11 is threaded as at 22 (Fig. 4) to receive an internally, threaded bushing 23 bonded into a soft cap 24 which may be of a molded rubber or other composition possessing a good degree of antifriction qualities. The cap 24 constitutes, as will the hood when in raised position.

The cam 20, as will best appear from Fig. 4, is provided with an inner or lower surface normally engaging the rod 11 in clamping relation. In lateral aspect, the cam 20 is formed with a convex or rocker outline in its rod-engaging region. It will be noted that the axis of pivotal movement of the cam is distinctly offset from the median line of the cam, taken in either direction. It results from this eccentric location of the pivot and from the curvature of the rocker base, that as the cam is urged in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 4) about the pivot 17 as by the spring later described, increased displacement in this direction will increase the clamping pressure against the rod 11. The same is true as to the effect of increased compressive loading in an axial or endwise direction of the strut, any tendency to inward or downward displacement of the rod 11 serving frictionally to rock the cam 20 counterclockwise, in a tightening direction. This effect, and the degree of retentive engagement between the cam 20 and rod 11 is markedly augmented by the provision of a transversely concave clamping surface on the cam, as Will best appear from Figs. 5 and 6. The effect is still further enhanced by the provision of sharply apexed milled ridges on the concave base of the earn, as indicated by Fig. 6, the ends of such ridges appearing in .Fig. 4, and the .milled face being :generally designated in Fig. 6 at 25.

Experimental experience indicates that incident to shop usage, even with careful avoidance of lubrication, the rod 11 may become somewhat coated with a :grease or dirt film, defeating the purpose of ordinary frictional holdi-n'g means. The sharp milled ridges on the surface .25 will positively penetrate and bite through any "such ifilm, and will assure for an indefinite period a positive clamp ing action with retention of parts of the device and hence the hood or other supported element in predetermined relation.

The provision ifor remotely actuating the cam need effect this movement through only a few degrees of partial rotation. In the present example, the "cam 20 is provided with an outwardly projecting apertured ear, or extension best appearing in :Fig. '4, and shown at 2'6, with the aperture indicated at for the reception of a pull'rod 31 provided with a head 32. Adjacent the projection 26 is a bushing 33, by and around which is sup ported a compression coil spring 34. One end of spring 34 engages as an abutment the ear 26, and the opposite end of the spring bears against a fixed guide extension 35 apertured so as slidably to receive the bushing. It will thus appear that as rod 31 .is retracted (being moved downwardly for release, Figs. 1, 3 and 4) the rod will rock the cam 20 clockwise or in a releasing direction. When the pull rod 31 is released, the spring 34 will act to move the locking cam 20 in a counterclockwise direction (Fig 4) and into locking engagement with the rod 1 1.

For convenience of remote actuation, the lower or opposite end of the pull rod 31 is connected to a handle 36, pivoted as through a pin 37 to a fixed 'apertured projection 40 attached to the tubular section 10. The pull rod 31 extends through the aperture of projection 40 adjacent the pivot 37, and is headed as at '41.

The manner of usage of the device is thought to have become fully apparent from the foregoing detailed description of -its parts, but it may be noted for completeness that when it is desired to lift the hood to a position somewhat above the range normally provided for by the equipment hood linkage, the latter may be released if needed, the maximum desired hood lift determined, and the necessary length of the prop thus determined. Fo'r purpose of adjusting the device, the handle 36 is :gripped to release the cam 20 and the rod 11 lifted or extended-to the necessary degree, followed'by release of the clamping mechanism. The device, new

l'en'g'tl'l-adjusted, is positioned "first by locating the antifriction tip '24 in place beneath the hood, then locating the tapered abutment 13 in the hood latch socket. lease and removal of the device is again quickly effected merely by gripping the handle '36 for movement toward the tubular "section 10, whereupon the rod 11 4 is usually self-retracting by gravity. The member 13, formed as an eye or loop, serves as a convenient hanger between periods of use.

Although the invention has been described by particular reference to a currently preferred embodiment, the detail of description should be understood in an instructive rather than in any limiting sense, numerous variants being possible within the fair scope of the claim hereunto appended.

I claim as my invention:

In a device adapted for use as a variable-length hood prop for automotive vehicle's, an outer tube, an inner rod telescopically related to the tube, the tube being provided with a downwardly tapered abutment piece at its normally lowermost end,adapted to interfit a hood latch aperture, the rod being provided at the opposite end of the device with a nouslip friction tip, an enlarged head element carried at the normally upper end of the tube and provided with :a longitudinal :cam slot, said head element including .a pair of :apertured ears, a pivot pin transversely bridging said apertures, a clamping cam rochably movable about the :pivot pin, the cam being provided with a longitudinal, curvilinear rocker face, the pivot pin :being eccentrically related to said rocker face to provide a self-tightening characteristic of the cam as :the prop is increasingly compressively endwise loaded, the face of the cam being further formed of a transverse sectional curvature conformingsubstantially to the outside curvature of the rod engaged thereby, and being provided with a plurality of sharp ridges, the cam being completely shielded by :said rears inwardly of said pivot pin, an apertured projection on the "cam outwardly of its pivot, a control .rod. located generally parallel and closely adjacent to :the :tube, and extending through the ap'ertured cam projection, a stationary guide member located on the outer :tube slightly spaced below said cam, :andextending only slightly outwardly of the tube, said guide member being apertured to receive the control rod, a coil-type "compression :spring disposed between --said earn projection and said guide member, a handle .pivotally connected to .a :lower portion of the tube, the handle being located substantially parallel to the tube and red, the :handle including a short projection, the control rod being connected to the projection 'of "said handle, and the handle being mounted only in slightly spaced relation to the tube .so as to permit the handle and tube are be gripped by one .hand incident to gripping actuation of the handle substantially at right angles to the tube.

References Gited .in the-file of this patent UNITED "STATES PATENTS 2,057,406 Willson Oct. 1'3, 193s T2,'341, 24 -Chason Feb. 8, 1944 23134598 "Stegall ."Jan. 13, 1948 2,504,392 Carter Apr. '18, 1950 2,536,253 "Beecher et'al. Jan. 2, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 606,892 Germany Dec. 13, 1934 

